How Tech Add-Ons Will Help You Get the Most Out of the Canadian ELD Mandate

Written by: Sara Steele, Product Manager & Director of Compliance, Drivewyze Inc. 

This is the 3rd post in our series around the Canadian ELD Mandate. Follow these links to read How the Canadian ELD Mandate Will Make Your Fleet more Efficient & How the Canadian ELD Mandate Will Make Every Drivers Job Easier. 

Fleet managers, owner-operators, and drivers alike are constantly looking for new ways to optimize equipment usage. By taking full advantage of your fleet’s hardware, you can reduce costs and improve efficiency. While the upcoming Canadian ELD mandate introduces new hardware to the truck, it also presents an opportunity to do more with less.  

The new mandate will require most commercial drivers to install certified in-cab electronic logging devices (ELD) as of June 12, 2021. This includes a 12-month phased-in enforcement period and a 3-month penalty-free period for both Canadian and US cross-border drivers. The core goal of the mandate is to enforce digital Hours of Service (HoS) logging, which helps drivers comply with safety standards and regulations.  

When choosing an ELD provider that complies with the mandate, keep in mind the additional software options available to you that can improve the ROI of your hardware. Many providers will have a selection of tech add-ons already installed on the ELD, while others offer discounts and free trials from software partners. 

Through innovative tech features, apps, and add-ons, fleets can take advantage of benefits like proactive safety alerts and weigh station bypasses. This allows you to not only get the most out of your ELD investment but to transform the efficiency of every truck in your fleet.  

Workflow Add-Ons For Streamlined Operations  

There are a lot of moving parts within a single fleet. To manage every level of the operation, fleets need workflow systems that can keep everyone moving and make their jobs easier. ELDs provide an opportunity to digitize the workflows already in place and streamline them even further.  

One of the top benefits of workflow software is how it improves trip management. Workflow add-ons can offer easy communication with dispatch, hands-free navigation for drivers, and intuitive GPS tracking and routing. This truck technology can help the driver troubleshoot any delays on the road while giving them access to every detail about their deliveries in one place.  

Workflow software can also help fleets and drivers manage daily admin. The typical fleet requires a lot of paperwork to be completed, from customer documents to driver logs. Workflow technology is designed to make these administrative tasks quick and easy through digital invoice processing, payroll access, logging, and more. Most ELD software even offers document scanning, so drivers can automatically upload and file documents in between deliveries.  

By installing workflow software onto every ELD, your fleet can move faster, and your drivers can feel supported and confident on the job.  

Safety Features For The Whole Fleet 

The Canadian ELD mandate is already designed to improve safety by requiring most truck drivers to log their HoS digitally. This will help reduce driver fatigue and the potential for accidents. However, additional ELD software can improve safety even more, protecting drivers while enhancing your fleet’s safety scores.  

There are also safety apps and add-ons, like Drivewyze Safety+, that offer proactive speed and safety alerts and safe parking notifications. These hands-free safety features can warn drivers about rollover areas, steep grades, historically dangerous zones, and more. This gives drivers the power to avoid the unsafe area altogether or take the necessary safety precautions before approaching it.    

Other ELD add-ons can help fleets receive more weigh station bypasses. If the ELD is equipped with Drivewyze PreClear®, for example, weigh stations in Ontario, Alberta, and across the US states can receive a full overview of the incoming truck and grant it a bypass if it doesn’t require a safety inspection. This gives fleets the opportunity to leverage their hard-earned safety scores while simultaneously improving their scores over time.  

Weigh station bypass software also eliminates the need for windshield transponders. Once fleets remove this hardware from the truck, drivers don’t have to make dangerous lane changes to drive under a transponder-reader or have their vision obstructed on the windshield.  

Insights & Analytics to Boost Efficiency  

The Canadian ELD mandate will be a substantial change for most fleets. However, it will also be a fantastic opportunity for fleets to improve efficiency.  

There are many high-level software options that provide in-depth analytics and efficiency insights. This technology is incredibly robust and can give fleet owners and managers a full overview of how their fleet is performing in several different areas. 

Data and insights can tell trucking companies who their top performers are, where safety violations are occurring most, what freight is taking the longest to deliver, and where operations can be improved throughout the fleet.  

Analytics software can also generate reports for fleet management to communicate data and insights with stakeholders, customers, and employees. Drivewyze’s Insights Safety Summary, for example, drills down into the fleet’s extensive safety data and provides managers with actionable safety intelligence and peer comparisons to benchmark their violations and make competitive adjustments.  

Add Software, Remove Hardware  

The Canadian ELD mandate will require most fleets to install and invest in new hardware for their trucks. But in the long run, fleets can capitalize on their ELD investment to optimize the use of that hardware and even remove equipment down the line.  

Once ELDs are implemented across the fleet, you can continue installing cost-effective software without any additional hardware required. This allows fleets to consolidate the equipment features that drivers need most, such as GPS systems and document scanners, into one piece of hardware: the ELD. In fact, certain tech add-ons can help fleets remove hardware from the truck right away, such as weigh station bypass software which automatically eliminates the need for windshield transponders.  

Many of these software options can also be installed as an app on the driver’s personal smart mobile device. That way, they can access everything easily on a device that they are already comfortable using.  

By installing one piece of ELD hardware and layering software on top of it, fleets can use open platforms to enhance workflow, improve safety, boost efficiency, and, ultimately, move toward a fully connected truck.  

Ask your ELD provider how you can access a free trial of Drivewyze and its many software options, including Drivewyze PreClear® and Drivewyze Safety+.